I recently posted about the recent changes to Canada's credit card regulations and how they've seemed to slip under the radar despite going into effect on January 1st, 2010. I phoned the Ministry of Finance and was told to wait for a response. I finally received this on Friday in a very official-looking letter, which I've included below:
This all makes sense and it seems that these proposals will help further protect Canadian credit cardholders and make sure those who don't pay off the balance in full each month are not taken advantage of. As outlined before the restrictions on the debt collectors are quite explicit and detailed and that should help as well.
I visited the Ministry website referred to in the letter, and found this in the statement that caught my eye:
"The proposed regulations would apply to credit cards issued by federally regulated institutions. Some provisions in the regulations would have broader application to other financial products, such as fixed- and variable-rate loans and lines of credit."
I wasn't aware that these regulatory changes would impact other products too. So I've put another call in the MoF and will update this post with the results.